4 DWOHDVWWHQGLIIHUHQWFLWLHVIURPKHUHSOXVVHYHUDOIURPRWKHUFRXQWULHV&RXQWULHVOLNH,WDO\1LJHULDDQGWKH8QLWHG$UDE(PLUDWHV7KHVHVWXGHQWVDUHVWD\LQJLQWKHLU KRPHODQGZKLOHWKH\DUHHDUQLQJGHJUHHVIURPDQDFFUHGLWHGXQLYHUVLW\LQWKH8QLWHG 6WDWHV The Study This study, which was conducted in , compared traditional face-to-face education, distance education, and a new hybrid distant education. The course used for thisstudy is CSIS 217 Web Development. CSIS 217 is an undergraduate course at a majoruniversity. The course shows you how to develop applications using Internet open VWDQGDUGVDQGWHFKQRORJ\LQWKHFRQWH[WRIWKHJOREDO,QWHUQHWDQGFRUSRUDWHIntranets. 7KHHQDEOLQJWHFKQRORJLHVLQWURGXFHGLQFOXGH+773DQG+70/CGIDQG3HUO -DYD6FULSW-DYDDQG-DYD%HDQV$FWLYH;CORBA/DCOMDQGSSL/SET7KH SUHUHTXLVLWHFRXUVHLV:HE3XEOLVKLQJDQG'HVLJQRUHTXLYDOHQWH[SHULHQFH7KHUHTXLUHG ERRNVDUH:HEPDVWHULQD1XWVKHOODQG'\QDPLF+70/7KH'HILQLWLYH5HIHUHQFH $GGLWLRQDOVXSSOHPHQWDU\WH[WVLQFOXGH-DYD6FULSW7KH'HILQLWLYH*XLGHUG(GLWLRQ DQGHTML: The Definitive GuideUG(GLWLRQ7RSLFVLQFOXGH&OLHQWVHUYHUDQGRSHQ V\VWHPVVWDQGDUGV :HEDQG+773VHUYLFHV3URSHUUROHRI SURJUDPPLQJODQJXDJHVVXFK DV3HUODQG-DYD6FULSW 'HYHORSLQJREMHFWVIRUWKH:HEXVLQJ &25%$-DYDDQG '&20$FWLYH; 0HWKRGRORJ\ Research participant were twenty undergraduate enrolled in the course. Fourteen lived on campus while the other six lived off campus. Twelve have part time jobs on campus and off campus. Five had full-time jobs off campus. While the remaining three students did not hold any jobs. Seventeen of them completed the course. All of them had experience with computers. Six of them had a distance education course before. The author taught the course. The author also taught this course before as a distance education course and as a face-to-face course. The class was offered for the first time in complete form during the regular spring semester of My goal was to eliminate the classroom as the focus of teaching and make it possible for a heterogeneous group of students to participate on their own schedules, while maintaining a lively intellectual interaction between the students and me. Papers and homework exercises were also dealt with over the web. The class was scheduled to meet three times a week through out the semester. Using this hybrid approach, the class met once a week during class time. During this meeting we devoted classroom time to discussions of recent research results, problem sets, questions, and all the topics that only human can address. The class also met twice more for formal examinations.

5 At the end, most students were quite enthusiastic about the experience, in particular about the freedom they has to study on their own schedules and to interact closely with me, through the internet. In addition, there was no indication from student performance that the semi-online students were at any intellectual disadvantage because of their nontraditional experience. What this approach did not do was to save me, or the students any time. I spent 25% more time than the usual in teaching, mostly in interactions with the students through web-based discussion or through . I strongly believe that the course was more interactive and more personal than it would have been had it been presented traditionally. I also believe that it would be virtually impossible for one professor to deal with more than twenty to thirty students in this way, simply because this approach requires more time. From a pedagogical standpoint, I found that this approach of teaching could be improved steadily, screen-by-screen and lecture by, lecture, and thus grow in effectiveness and quality each year in away that simply does not happen in traditional format. In addition, guest lecturers can be easily incorporated, so that a truly version of a course can be built up over several cycles and then still be available for students even if the originating professor goes on sabbatical or needs a break. Problems Technological problems: Many students reported frustration with technological problems and the absence of personnel to provide technical support. One student indicated three areas of frustration, the biggest of which were with the technology and the inflexibility of the course scheduleone student ed me the following message: First of all, inappropriate prerequisite statement. For example, there is nothing to say that you should know HTML, but our first assignment was creating a web site. Fortunately, I knew it. I d explored learning how to do HTML by myself. If I didn't know, I just cannot imagine how to get through. Secondly, this course is very time specific. The course I took before, I could go in anytime and finish anytime. However, this course is very specific in terms of time. For example, I got into the class a week late and you sent me saying that we had already started. As an old learner, I felt so intimidated. I felt pressure to catch up. Third, accessibility to technology. This is related to the prerequisite. There is nothing that says we should have access to a web server. However, when we developed the web site as an assignment, we had to have the server access. Since I work for a school, one of the technical people helped me to connect to the web server. If I didn t have these resources here, I would have dropped this course. Complexities of Working Alone:0XFKRIWKHGLVWDQFHHGXFDWLRQOLWHUDWXUHHPSKDVL]HVWKH FRQYHQLHQFHRIWKLVHGXFDWLRQDOPHGLXP,QSUDFWLFHWKLVFRQYHQLHQFHWUDQVODWHVZRUNLQJ DWGLIIHUHQWWLPHVLQGLIIHUHQWORFDWLRQV:KLOHRIWHQYDOXHGWKLVDOVROHDGVWRFHUWDLQ stresses. For example, in a web-based distant education course, students do not see each RWKHURUWKHLULQVWUXFWRUVXQOHVVWKH\XVHYLGHROLQN&6,6KDGQRYLGHRVXSSRUWDQG the absence of physical cues led some confusion and anxiety for the students. Mary, a VWXGHQWLQWKHFRXUVHRQFHHPDLOHGPHWKHIROORZLQJmessage: I am not always sure that

6 if I am contributing enough or not. In fact, I have not gotten any feedback about my contribution. I can t tell from the . <RXFDQWHOOIURPWKHFODVVURRPZKDWWKH SURIHVVRUWKLQNDERXW\RXIURPWKHERG\ODQJXDJHDQGWKHZD\WKH\WDON6R,DPQRW IHHOLQJWKDW,DPJHWWLQJHQRXJKDVVHVVPHQW,KDYHQRWJRWWHQDQ\JUDGHIRUWKLVFODVVVR IDU 3HGDJRJLFDO,VVXH$PELJXRXV,QVWUXFWLRQVMuch of human communication is inherently ambiguous. But people can often adequately resolve key ambiguities when they are face to face. When the primary communication medium is written text, resolving ambiguities may be more difficult for many people as indicated in the following message from John: Ahmad ~ though I understand each sentence and word in the that you sent us, I don t know how to use the instructions to compose the programming. I can follow step 1 and 2 but then I can t follow step 3 and 4. So I go back to the beginning and start over. Conclusion There is no end to the development of distance education. We can see from history that there were always learners who whatever reason could not or chose not to physically attend local institutions. As our local societies turn into global communities and nationalistic barriers fade, there is a new global student body which inherently requires the use of distant education for learning, and the Internet is the perfect vehicle for providing this service. This is not a futuristic possibility; this is a present day fact and educators throughout the world need to move ahead in providing educational opportunities in this steadily growing global student body through the use of online distance education. Some people are dismayed by the fact that distant education is a growing phenomenon. They believe this signals the end of traditional classroom education as we know it. Other fear that once a course has been converted for use online the need for faculty will disappear. I don t believe that distance education will replace the traditional classroom. However, it continues to appeal to nontraditional students for a number of reasons, the main one being that the structure and confines of the traditional classroom simply do not work. Electronic pedagogy doe not advocate the elimination of faculty in the delivery of online courses. In fact, just the opposite is true. Faculties need to acquire new approaches and skills so that their teaching is this medium might be more effective. Electronic pedagogy is not about fancy software packages or simple course conversion. It is about developing the skills involved with community building among a group of learners so as to maximize the benefits and potential that this medium holds in the educational arena. From the interviews and observations I found two important factors of students distress in distant education. The first factor was technological problems, and students without access to technical support were especially frustrated. The second factor involved the course content and my practices in managing the communications with the students. Students reported confusion, anxiety, and frustration when they wanted prompt feedback from me and when they found ambiguous instructions on the web and in messages.

7 While students felt frustrated with the course, I was also frustrated. Overall, the students evaluations of me were positive. All the students appreciated the support from me. Some students even sympathized with me because I had to handle so many technological problems in this course. One should caution against emphasizing only the virtues of distant education. Most of the publications about distant education that are written for practitioners (i.e., administrators and teachers), and potential students emphasize the positive opportunities presented in distant education. I believe that in some of these studies, students may not have opportunities to express their confusions and anxieties with web-based distant education. At the end of the semester, students might make positive comments about the courses because of a relief of finishing a course and concern about grades and hurting instructors feelings. I strongly believe that students should be given periodic evaluations in courses like CSIS 217. Pratt [5] suggested two forms of evaluation: Formative and summative. Formative evaluation is an ongoing process that can occur at any point throughout the course; it can surface gaps in course material or in learners ability to grasp that material. Formative evaluation gives the instructors a way to shift focus if the course is not proceeding according to plan. Summative evaluation assesses the completed course and is most often the model of evaluation used in academic institutions. Harasim [2] in reflecting on the evaluation of online courses, state: In keeping with a learner-centered approach, evaluation and assessment should be part of the learning-teaching process, embedded in class activities and in the interactions between learners and between learners and teachers (page 167). Harasim is describing an ongoing formative evaluation process that is built into the class structure. Summary This paper fills various needs for the purpose of showing the effective application of online distance education. Educational administrators, instructors, and the public need to know whether or not the online distance teaching is a valid and proven instructional method. Furthermore, administrators and instructors need to know what to expect when planning and teaching in an online virtual university. Through careful planning and operation, combined with quality online teaching, educators and the public will know that they are participating in an effective method of instruction, one that will be accepted by both traditional and nontraditional educational establishments.

Copyright Notice This paper was presented at EDUCAUSE 2000 in Nashville, October 10-13, 2000. It is the intellectual property of the author(s). Permission to print or disseminate all or part of this material

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